Do not doubt
by Haxong
Summary: It's the third year for Harry Potter and his evil twin, Charles. Right now he's sitting in Azkaban but he's already making plans. Plans to break out, plans to murder and plans to help Diary-Riddle to assemble as much power as possible. Once he's back the world won't know what hit them!
1. Azkaban

Hello and welcome to the third year of Harry Potter and his evil twin, Charles. I greatly sugest you read the first two fanfics if you haven't already.

Updates may come a little bit slower this time around since I'm working on another project at the same time.

Have fun with the chapter and please leave a review!

* * *

Azkaban was a very unfriendly place. Day after day I had to stare at the same blank walls. The smell of unwashed bodies and excreta was disgusting. There was no light whenever it was day or night. The only way I knew which date it was was by counting the meals they gave me – if it could indeed be called a meal.

Dementors patrolled the place frequently. Whenever one of them was coming closer I felt the cold. But the horrifying effect they had on people didn't reach me. Lunas amulet protected me.

Therefore the first few days were simply boring me. I was unable to get depressed but I was sure with this atmosphere normally I would have been already even without the dementors.

I had a plan. Of course I had a plan. The cells in block B had the conformation of an U. When I came in there were only three cells available; one next to Lestrange and two right at the entrance. I was put at the entrance, farthest away from the other prisoners but able to see all of them from my position. Not that there was much interaction. Most of them just sat huddled in a corner, weeping, crying, glaring, sleeping, drooling or simply lying there unmoving that one would think they were already dead. Which might actually be the case. But there was one prisoner who was constantly trying to get my attention. At night he would call out for me, never by name as to not alert the others. I ignored him.

Another week went past. I was receiving my first Daily Prophet and a bunch of letters from my friends.

After fifteen days of being imprisoned I ripped a band of cloth off my uniform. Together with some hair of myself I formed a long shape. Then I began to cut myself. I dug my fingernails into my skin until they drew blood. The blood drained the cloth and my magic healed the cut. I continued to do so until the cloth was completely red.

After one month I began phase one of my plan.

It was the middle of the night. The dementors had just passed by and I knew most of the prisoners would be out cold by now.

Slowly I began to chant in parseltongue. My goal was to transfigure the cloth that was drained with my blood and thus my magic into a living being. To be more precise, into a snake.

Several minutes passed. Wandless transfiguration was really advanced but with my parsel I might just manage. No, I _had _to manage.

Slowly the cloth began to wriggle and squirm under my hands. One end grew pointed, the other took the distinct shape of an head.

Whispering I gave the little creature its direction. Unnoticed it slithered through my bars and over into Black's cell. There it would slither into the pipe of the toilet that stood in the corner of every cell. And then, on my command, it would explode.

BANG!

The alarm woke the entire block. Within seconds the place was swarmed with dementors. The human guards where only minutes behind, trying to find out what all the commotion was about. Sirius Black stood in his cell and cackled manically. Water was splashing out of the destroyed pipe and the foul smell that coated the prison grew almost unbearable.

Black was shot with five stunners straight to the chest. A few of the guards even kicked his unmoving body. They tried to find out what caused the explosion but all they would ever find was blood and since several broken pieces of the toilet that were flying around had hit Black and hurt him they wouldn't think anything about it.

In the end I overheard from their whispered conversation that they believed the spell that kept the pipes clean to have malfunctioned. Black was brought into a different cell until the damage was repaired. In the end however the unmotivated guards didn't even bother to take Black back after the damage was dealt with. He remained in his new cell, which just so happened to be the one next to me.

Phase two could begin.

* * *

"Finally you're awake, huh?"

Black blinked sluggishly. He tried to sit up but his body was still tense from lying on the cold ground for so long. He only managed with the second try.

I was not able to see him very well what with the wall between us but I could hear his every move and catch a glimpse of him when I stood close to my bars. Currently I was sitting in the corner, one leg stretched out the other bent and with my head leaning against the bricks.

"The... The explosion...", Black said with a voice raw from misuse.

"That was me", I confirmed. "No need for people to listen in on us, is there?"  
For a moment the wizard was speechless. Then there was a sound that sounded suspiciously like crying.

"It wasn't me", he whispered. "It wasn't me who betrayed your parents. _Please_, you have to believe me!"

I paused for a moment as if to think. "Then, who was it?"

Quickly Black launched into a full-blown, if slightly woozily explanation, occasionally interrupted by a sob.

When he was finished I called to ten slowly, deliberately keeping him in suspense.

Then I said: "I had noticed that there were... abnormalities in your case before. It didn't seem right..."

"You... you saw it? Does that mean... Does that mean you believe me?", he sounded so incredulous and hopeful it was almost ridiculous.

"I've been looking through the investigation files. The position of the crater the spell caused compared to where the muggles saw you standing. The fact that you were oh so obviously a very immature adult who broke up with his family, all of that being an act was unlikely. On the other hand Pettigrew was not exactly considered brave before his supposed death, it would be far easier to threaten him. I noticed all these strange inconsistencies and I decided that I wanted to know the truth. Your story does make a lot of sense but of course I couldn't believe it without proof."  
"Of course", Black said, slumping down a bit in disappointment. "You have no reason to believe me."

"On the opposite. I actually _want _to believe you. You see, I have been researching what I believe may be one great conspiracy against my brother and myself. Your case may be just another part of this."

"What are you talking about?", Black wanted to know. At the beginning he had sounded like an emotional wrack but as the conversation continued he seemed to be calmed by my professional behavior and and calm logic. That was good. I needed him to be sane.

"You probably won't be up-to-date so I'll explain the current political climate to you. After we survived Moldyshorts curse and destroyed him people celebrated the Potter twins, Harry and me, Charles, as the boys-who-lived. We became living legends over night. Some thought we had killed the Dark Lord, others thought he'd come back one day and we were the chosen ones, the ones who'd defeat him for good one day. You can imagine that with such high expectations we'd have a lot of influence. Of course now this influence only concerns the school but later one we'll be politically powerful. But even though everybody knows that Moldyshorts is out to get us we never received any sort of training to enable us to defend ourselves, if not from the Dark Lord himself then at least from his Death Eaters who may want to take their anger out on us. This didn't even change when we started Hogwarts." I paused for a moment to make sure I still had his undivided attention. "That's not all, though. Being boy-heroes one would think they'd give us a new family. One would think they'd give us to people who would love and cherish us. People who taught us about our parents, their noble sacrifice and the world they lived in. However what we got was the exact opposite."

"Where... Where did you grow up?", Black asked when I was silent for a long time. He sounded as if he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"We grew up with our mothers relatives, the Dursleys."

A sharp intake of breath.

"I don't know if you've ever met them. They hate magic. They saw us as filthy freaks tainting their family. We were what squibs are in a dark pureblood family. We were treated like house elves, pushed around and forced to do chores beginning at the tender age of four. We didn't even have our own room – they just stuffed us into the cupboard under the stairs that we had to share with stinking old socks and a small army of spiders. We were forced to watch as they pampered their own fat son Dudley while we were refused at least one meal a day for some mistake or another regularly. Until we were old enough to suppress our accidentally magic or control it on purpose to defend ourselves our life there was hell." I purposefully let out that I had been able to control accidentally magic when I was six and thus the rest of my life there had been quite normal.

"Even then they continued to make sure we had a miserable childhood by isolating us and making sure we never found any friends at school." By this point Black was a little piece of misery on the ground, quietly sobbing and asking for forgiveness for not being there. Yes, I did make it sound a lot worse then it had actually been – at least this time around. But none of it was actually a lie.

"Until we got our letters we weren't even told that there was such a thing as a wizard. We were told that our parents died in a car crash because Dad was just so stupid and drunk he got himself and Mum killed."

Here I had to interrupt my explanation because Black let out a an angry howl. Curses filled his cell and I had to remind him to be quiet lest they found out we talked to each other. Finally I was able to continue my speech.

"I did not tell you this to make you feel guilty. No, I'm blaming someone else entirely and I want to make you understand. My suspicion is outlandish and just as unbelievable as yours. Which is why you're the first one I'm telling it to.

The one who brought us to the Dursleys was Albus Dumbledore, with the knowledge of Minerva McGonogall and Rubeus Hagrid, but I think there might be more. They knew perfectly well what the Dursleys thought about magic and still they left us there on their doorstep, in the middle of a cold November night. Why? So that we wouldn't grow up with all the fame and become arrogant? Then why not put us with some nice wizarding family in a foreign country that never heard of Moldyshorts? Why keep us here where the Death Eaters were still strong in influence? And if it really had to be a muggle family, why not a nice and loving one? I was told during to my mothers sacrifice there are blood wards around the house, wards that protect us from Moldyshort. But he was gone and I can't imagine them protecting us from Death Eaters too. Even if they did, they don't protect us from our relatives. The house, this supposed safe place, is the one we spent the least time in. We're trying to avoid them at all cost, spending time in school, in parks or the library. If there was really someone out to hurt us the Dursleys would provide the least protection possible. Not only would they never willingly protect us themselves, nor could they even if they wanted. Hell, they'd probably throw a party for our murderers. So then, why give us to them?"

Black was shaking with guilt and anger. "I-I don't know. It's unacceptable. Why... why would anyone do something like that?"

"I have a suspicion", I whispered. "The idea came to me after watching my brother during our first year. You know, we're very different form each other, Harry and I. I always had a better grasp on my magic and thus I often protected him when we were little. I stole food for the both of us, sometimes money so we wouldn't have to wear rags. I learned how to scare children with my magic so they'd stop bulling us. That way I shielded him from the harsh world and he was able to... to maintain his innocence. He's in Gryffindor while I was sorted into Slytherin." I think I saw him flinch out of the corner of my eye but I couldn't be sure.

"That year the Philosopher's Stone was hidden inside of Hogwarts. It turned out that Moldyshorts bodyless spirit had attached itself onto the back of the head of our defense professor, who then tried to steal the stone to bring back his master. The whole year long Harry tried to figure out the secret around the stone as if it was some kind of great adventure out of a comic book. He even tried to get to the stone first and I had to rescue him. He was acting like a stereotypical, brash, idiotic, brave little Gryffindor hero. In shot, he acted exactly like little children where told the boy-hero acted in their bedtime-stories. But that's not what made me suspicious. No, what was suspicious was that getting to the stone was so _easy. _Protections and enchantment meant to hold the Dark Lord at bay, defeated by a couple of first years? The Cerberus protecting the trapdoor – the pet of Harrys best friend, the groundskeeper Hagrid. The Devils Snare – a deadly plant we actually spoke about in our first week in Herbology. Flying keys you had to catch – no problem for the youngest seeker of the century at Hogwarts. Even the mirror that held the final enchantment had an enscription that helped you to figure out its riddle. All of this just looks as if we were _meant _to go down there. As if all of this was just a test, a set-up. Every single challenge had some kind of trick, a weakness. If you knew about it even a squib could get through there. That's why I think someone wanted to test us on purpose."

Black had become very silent during my speech.

"Raising us to become children craving for any sort of love and approval, slightly uneducated but not stupid and completely unaware of our political power, making sure we'd jump over ourselves to fight an enemy ten times as strong as us and sacrificing ourselves for our friends... Someone was deliberately manipulating us to become the perfect weapons of the light against Moldyshorts. And part of this, I believe, contained taking you out of the picture. You, that you are not only a capable wizard but know all about wizarding customs during to your upbringing, you that you were the only person who was named by our parents to take care of us, who they trusted to love and to protect us. I believe someone wanted to make sure you wouldn't have that kind of influence on us. I believe someone wanted to get rid of you and did so by denying you a trial and branding you as a death eater. After all if what you're saying is true then simply viewing your memories in a pensive or applying Veritaserum would have been enough to determine the truth. Yet although you're a member of an ancient and noble house as well as the last heir of the Blacks, best friend of my father and a front line fighter against Moldyshorts they threw you into this cell without even listening to your story."

"Who?", was all the wizard wanted to know.

"The one who brought us to the Dursleys, even_ before _you supposedly killed those muggles and lost your right to care for us... The one who remained silent although he possessed the means of getting you out of prison during all those years... The one who positioned a squib next door to our house who watched us being abused and yet did nothing... The one who set up the test for us last year just so he could come in and save the day, earning our adoration once more – is Albs Dumbledore."

There is something very powerful about the truth. You can twist and turn it all you like and make a friend appear as a foe and your enemy dress up as your ally. Still the truth stays the truth and although my accusations were far-fetched, only half-proven and mainly based on fanfictions one wouldn't be able to deny the grain of truth they held. All intends and purposes aside all that mattered in this moment was that I did not and would never forgive Albus Dumbledore.

This alone was enough for Sirius Black to hate the man.

He did not say "I can't believe it" or even "I'd have never thought he'd do something like that". He said only one thing:

"I'll kill him."

It was said with so much hatred, so much disgust and passion that I believed him immediately. Yes, if he got the chance to do so, he'd kill the man.

For ten years Black had sat in this cell, relieving his worst nightmares. Being innocent was the only thing that kept him sane. Now not only was I the only other person on the world who believed in him too, I also provided him with a culprit. Someone other then Pettigrew, who was unreachable for him since he didn't know where he was or if he was even alive. Also unlike the rat Dumbledore posed a very real threat to the two people he had promised to protect. His fierce promise was an impulsive one and not that of a sane man but it was a beginning. I could build upon that hatred.

"You won't be able to do anything from in here", I reminded him darkly. "Neither of us will."

He shot me a wary glance. Anger seemed to overcome him again as he asked: "Is that why you're here too? Did he do this to you?"

"No", I replied although the temptation to lie was great. "I came here on my own in order to speak with you."

"I... I don't understand."  
"At the beginning of my second year the Chamber of Secrets was opened. Apparently Moldyshorts possessed a student this time to command the creature within and attack several muggleborns. Because my brother and I are the only parselmouths at the school – an ability that might have passed over to us from Moldyshorts the night he tried to kill us the first time – we were the prime suspects. In the end a girl was abducted and brought into the chamber, only that in truth she had been the one possessed. Harry and I went down into the chamber but it collapsed, leaving me alone with the spirit of the Dark Lord. I managed to defeat it – it was weakened from bringing the girl down there – but I was too late to safe her. When I brought her back her brother accused me of being the heir of Slytherin, the one who killed her myself. There were some ministry officials present who heard him and took me into custody. I would have probably been able to talk my way out of it but the damage was already done, the whole school believed me to be the next Dark Lord. So I just kind of went with the flow. I arranged for myself to be brought to this block so that I could research your case. I doubt one would have allowed me to visit you to do so."

Again Black seemed to be close to tears again. "You shouldn't have done that, Charles! Nothing in the world, not even my innocence, is worth you staying at a place like this."

"It's only for a couple of weeks. Nothing compared to your sentence. Although that one will end too, once I get you out of here."

Black stared at me in shock. "Get me... out of here?"

"How else can I ever be sure I can trust you? You want to kill Dumbledore? I'll give you the chance to do so. When you come to Hogwarts everyone will think you're after my brother and me. He will be unprepared for an attack on his person. With your animagus form you can sneak on the grounds unnoticed. Dumbledore doesn't know you're an animagus and he can't detect that kind of magic." During the prologue he hadn't known that it was McGonogall sitting on that wall. "You can simply approach him as a nice little stray dog and then go straight for his throat. You have to manage on your first try, a wizard like him won't give you a second."

As I knew he would Black didn't look as sure anymore.

"Sirius, I want to work with you. I want to be your accomplice. If you do exactly what I tell you you'll be able to not only get your revenge but also to fulfill your role as my guardian and godfather. I need you to protect me but you won't be of much use if you're storming ahead on your own."

"Fine", Black said, now with fierce determination coating his words. "I will help you to the best of my ability. Together we'll kill that filthy traitor Dumbledore and then I'll go and find Pettigrew!"

"That's the spirit", I answered, allowing myself to slip my evil smirk back on. "But first we have to get you out of here. Now here's the plan..."


	2. Going back to Hogwarts

The last few weeks of school had been hell for Harry Potter. He just couldn't stand all the students laughing and being happy because the _heir of Slytherin _ had been caught. Many times he had tried to to tell them that his brother was _innocent_, in fact he still defended him when someone said anything against him. But the more he stood up for him the more he was pushed aside himself.

Ron refused to talk to him any longer. By now Harry wasn't even sure if he truly believed Charles to be responsible for his sisters death or if he just refused to admit he might have been wrong. Maybe it was a little bit of both but Harry didn't care. He avoided him on his own and had separated himself from his usual group completely. More often then not he would pair up with Neville Longbottom during classes, a shy little boy who no one else deemed worthy enough to talk to. Harry felt very lonely during that time but he refused to give in.

One day he found Hermione Granger crying by herself in the library. Without Charles at her side she too was lonely since she was not included in his brothers group of friends. Seeing a kindred spirit she helped him out with his school work, even though there were no exams. Through her he found out about the nature of the guardians of Azkaban and was absolutely horrified when he realized what his brother had to endure every day. He may be allowed to write and did so almost every day but Charles couldn't sent letters back to him. Thus he had no idea how he was doing.

When the school year finally ended Harry was beyond relieved. He had nagged his teachers endlessly, even going as far as visiting Dumbledore himself until he promised to help him so he could visit Charles in prison. Still two weeks passed until he finally got the permission. His Head of House, Professor McGonogall, took him there herself. The more he saw of that dark prison the more he was filled with dread. The first time he encountered a patrolling dementor he actually fainted, having to hear his mother's dying cry over and over again. McGonogall was equally horrified at the idea of the Potter twins actually being able to remember that night and having to see it again. When Harry was finally lead into the small room where visitors could meet with the prisoners the boy was practically a nervous wreck. Still when he was brought in his twins managed to look worse.

At first the professor actually thought Charles might have been kissed. The eyes of the not even thirteen year old child were empty and devoid of any kind of reaction upon seeing them. He didn't even sit down until one of the guards pushed him onto his chair. Even then he just sat there, staring ahead.

McGonogall was absolutely appalled at his appearance. Harry actually _did _cry when he saw him in this condition. It didn't matter how long they tried to get him to open up, he remained blank. Harry asked to be left alone with his brother and they did so, although reluctantly.

Then he started to talk. He told him about what happened at Hogwarts, although he had written about most of it already. He talked about Ron and about Hermione and how Draco Malfoy still strut around like he owned the place.

And finally, when he made a small pause to take a breath, Charles lifted his head. A minuscule amount of life returned into his eyes as he asked with a raw voice: "Harry?"

His voice sounded to dead, so _broken, _it was shaking Harry to the very core. It was as if he had only now realized that he had a visitor, or that this visitor was real and not a figment of his by nightmares plagued imagination.

Harry almost threw himself over the table in an attempt to grasp his brothers hands. He had always protected him, always looked out for him. Now very bad things had happened to him and Harry felt compelled to protect _him _this time around. Yet he felt so helpless. He'd do everything to see that evil smirk on his face again because it would mean he was _alive_.

Charles stared at him as he'd see him for the first time.

"Harry. You came for me."  
"Of course I came for you! I came as soon as I could! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry about what happened to you."

Charles blinked rapidly as if trying to hold back tears. His hands clutched Harrys and he looked to the ground, shoulders shaking slightly.

"I-I hadn't expected... I hadn't expected it to me so..."

"I know", Harry said quickly and squeezed his hands. "I only found out about the dementors recently. McGonogall told me they'd affect us more because of the things we've been through. You should've never gone here."

Charles looked up at him again and it was a look of utter _helplessness,_ of desperation and fear that Harry had to swallow a thick lump in his throat.

"I've done something terrible, Harry", he admitted in a low voice. "I thought... I thought I could handle it... But I couldn't. It's all my fault. It's my fault that Ginny died."  
Harry shook his head. "No, it's not, Charles! You're innocent! I know that, Dumbledore knows that and all of your friends do too."

But Charles shook his head. "If it wasn't for me she'd still be alive. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Harry, for the path I've taken. I'm sorry I couldn't take you with me."

Harry wanted to deny the words but Charles just kept talking. It appeared he was slipping away again, whispering to himself without realizing his surroundings. "I tried to. I really did. I wanted to go through this together with you. But I couldn't. You were just so... so innocent. I couldn't take that away from you." He looked at him again but it was as if he didn't truly _see _him. "We were always so different, Harry. I could never... I could never really see you as my brother. And then when we were sorted into different houses it just got worse. I felt like there was no connection at all between us and that I was justified in the way I treated you. I felt like you were not my brother."

Harry felt an ice cold weigh settling in his stomach, but Charles was not finished.

"That's what I felt for so many years, but I was _wrong. _I was oh so wrong. You are all the family I have left. You are my brother and I _love _you – I needed this awful place to realize that. Harry, please – I'm sorry about what I've done and I'm sorry about what I'm going to do. Please forgive me."  
"O-Of course", Harry choked out. "There is nothing to be sorry about."  
"Yes there is", he insisted. "There are things you do not know about me. Secrets I've kept. I still can't reveal them to you – not without breaking you. Not without _tainting _you. Every single day in this cell I'm dreading the day when you find out. I don't think I could stand the look on your face when you do. I'd probably kill myself before I endure that. That's why... That's why I have to ask something from you."

"Everything", he breathed.

"Please do not hate me. Please don't give me up. I know of terrible things that are going to happen. Some of which I'll do myself. I don't know why or when just that it will happen. When you find out about it... Please don't stop being my brother. I _need _you at my side. Promise you won't hate me."

"I promise", Harry sobbed and finally let his emotions ran free. Crying he threw himself at his brother and hugged him closely.

"Swear it", he heard him whisper in his ear. "Swear it on your magic."  
And without even thinking about it, Harry did.

"I swear I'll never hate you. I swear it on my magic."

Completely unbeknownst to him, Harry Potter was entering a magical contract that day. Magic recognized his genuine promise to never hate his twin. Should he ever break that oath all of his magic would be stripped away from him and probably leave him in a state of excruciating pain too. The boy-who-lived was unaware of these consequences and even if he knew he probably wouldn't have cared in that moment. All that was important to him was that his brother relaxed slightly in his arms and returned the hug. Charles had buried his face in his neck. Thus Harry wasn't able to see the very, very small and very, very evil smirk grazing his lips.

* * *

The first of September, the day of my release from prison was coming closer. Not much had happened during the months I had spent there. I had received letters and a newspaper once a week and planned Black's escape with him. When the minister dropped by I told Black to stay in his corner and don't speak to him so he wouldn't know he was still very much sane. That way he hadn't seen the picture of Pettigrew in the newspaper. Originally I had planned to be the one to show it to him. But since I had been able to convince Black that the real enemy was in fact Dumbledore, his hatred for Pettigrew would only distract him.

I told Black to escape using his thin animagus form two days after I left Azkaban. That way he was still in prison when my lawyer Mr Silverspur picked me up from the front gates of the dark prison.

"There will be no problems with you entering Hogwarts again for your third year", he informed me while we walked to the border of the anti-apparition wards. "You served your sentence. Although it was a short one you were imprisoned in the high security block." He stopped to glance at me. "I hope it didn't affect you too much."

I was temped to give a snarly retort but I had to act at least a little downtrodden and depressed. No one was supposed to know that dementors didn't affect me, not with Lunas amulet.

"I'm just glad I get so see all my friends again. And my brother, of course", I answered.

"Well, about that..." The wizard hesitated. "There was a little problem with your brother this summer."  
Oh no. "What kind of problem?"  
"It seemed he performed magic in front of muggles – not just your relatives, but muggles who weren't in the known. Since it was his second offense, he..."  
I closed my eyes and tried hard not to groan. "He was expelled."  
"I'm afraid so."

Fuck. Fudge did only let him go because he was so glad he hadn't been captured by Sirius Black. But Black was still in Azkaban. This wasn't good. People were supposed to believe Black was after my brother. He couldn't be after me, at least not only because he could've killed me during those month here.

Why the hell wasn't I informed of this? People probably didn't want to upset me with the news. Seemed I played my part too good.

"Would it be possible for you to bring his case in front of a court?"

"I'm sorry Mr Potter, but the law-"  
"The first offense wasn't his fault. A friend of mine greatly dislikes Potter and always complains about him at home. One of his house elves was a little too loyal and went to play a prank on Harry in hope of pleasing his master. He was the one performing the magic. It can be proved though the viewing of a memory. I'm sure Professor Dumbledore would be more then happy to provide a pensive. I can also get the elf to confess."

"Well, in that case", he said surprised, "I think it could be arranged."

"Please do it as fast as possible."

We had reached the border and Silverspur took my arm to apparate me to London. We arrived in a side alley in London.

"Around the corner the way leads to the station. You luggage..."  
"I took care of it before entering Azkaban, thanks. The new school books will have to be owl-ordered. I did receive the usual letter with my mail." Actually that wasn't necessary since I had ordered all my school books from all the years somewhere during Christmas break. It wasn't as if I didn't know what I'd need.

"Then this is where we part ways. I will look into the matter of your brother as soon as possible. Have a nice day."

"You too, Sir. Thanks for what you've done for me."  
"Don't mention it. It's my job."

In Azkaban I had been given a simple cloak with a hood that I could use now to conceal my face before entering the platform. I made sure to stay away from people until I entered the train. Then I picked the first empty compartment and warded the door with silencing, locking and notice-me-not spells.

"Notch", I called then and instantly the elf appeared before me.

"Master has called Notch!", he cried and promptly hugged me around the waist. "Notch was so worried for Master!"

"Yes, well, now let go off me", I commanded him. "I have a lot of things to do and I'll need your help."  
"Everything!", the little creature devoted to me breathed, "I'll do everything!"

"First get me my luggage out of my vault. Only leave the stone, the cloak and my broom in the chest."

A few seconds later I had my luggage back. Quickly I pulled out some parchment and a quill and wrote a couple of letters.

"Bring this letter to the post office in France to be delivered to Nekrys. This one goes to the sister bank of Gringotts in Italy, again delivered using a post office of the country. The third goes directly to the Dursleys and that one to the Romania Eastern Dragon Resort, again via post office. This last one goes to Diagon Alley, to the Magical Menagerie."

Notch took all the letters and vanished without a sound.

I leaned back and removed the locking and notice-me-not-ward but added another one in parseltongue that would scare away every student except for a select few, namely the ones from my nest.

It wasn't long before Hermione found me, shortly followed by Neville, Zabini and Nott. All of them were happy to have me back and I spent the rest of the drive listening to them telling me about their summers, the schools opinion on me, the remaining Outtakes, the scandal about Harry being dispelled and ignoring the worried glances they shot me.

No escape meant no dementor interrupting us on our way to Hogwarts. Thus we arrived at the castle without a problem. Even the feast was a cheerful matter and even though Lunas amulet had kept me in a good mood for months this was the first time I actually allowed myself to relax again. I was back in my element.

* * *

Over the next three days I was receiving the first answers. Tom was royally pissed at me for never even writing him before now. Apparently he had been on the verge of starting a war on his own. The only thing holding him back was the fact that I hold his horcrux hostage. I told him to get over it and finish his NEWT's before he snapped at me for enjoying my holidays.

Nekrys wrote back that Tom, although difficult, was actually nice company for him and they got along rather well. The boy was far too interested in inferi, but other then that a bright kid. Oh, if only he knew!

I had convinced Draco to convince his father to let me buy Dobby. The elf was still somewhat bound and couldn't reveal their secrets, but he didn't have to in order to free Harry. I handed the elf over to Mr Silverspur who was confident he'd get Harry back within two weeks. His wand however had been snapped and was lost forever. Which kind of gave me satisfaction. No Priore Incantatemsomething.

The Dursleys signed my permission form for Hogsmeade if I just made the poisonous snake in their garden disappear and the Menagerie gave my order of twelve rats to Notch for me. The bank confirmed that yes, they were interested in buying a 16 feet tall statue of Salazar Slytherin made entirely out of gold and paying me a not-so-small fortune for it and yes, the director of the Romania Eastern Dragon Resort was indeed interested in this new system of 'shares' and receiving money by handing over part of the ownership of the resort as long as it would still remain a home for dragons.

Everything was going well and I was looking forward to testing the ability of the Philosophers Stone to turn things into gold in the Chamber of Secrets when my good mood was dampened by my first Defense lesson of the year. I didn't really know what my greatest fear was but I did certainly not want the entire class to know and let it be used against me. I needed a way to cheat. Unfortunately doing so would be hard without knowing what I'd be up against.

At the same time there was another dozen plans I wanted to follow through with and this could be an opportunity to test one of them.

"Hey, Hermione", I greeted my friend. Unceremoniously I sat down next to her at the Ravenclaw table, an act that drew quite a few stares from the other students. Most of them were hostile but also fearful.

"Uh, hi Charles. Is there something you need?"  
"Can't I enjoy your company without a reason?" I grinned.

"Well, of course, but maybe I'd find it just as enjoyable if I knew your ulterior motive."  
"Ah, you got me. I was wondering...", quickly I cast a privacy charm around us, "...about that time turner of yours."  
Hermione blanched and grabbed the golden device under her robes. "How did you – nevermind. You're not supposed to know about it. Nobody is!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Did that ever stop me?"  
"Well... no. But Charles, time travel is really dangerous and there are so many rules, that-"  
"Calm down, I know the rules. Never change anything and don't let yourself be seen. Don't worry, I don't even want to use it myself... yet. Say, you have Defense together with me in three hours, right?"

"Yes..."  
"And what else do you have?"  
"I have Arithmancy too."  
"Before that?"  
"Transfiguration and Muggle Studies."  
"That's perfect, I have a free period instead. Alright, now listen to me: You'll use your time turner to go to Muggle Studies and then continue with Defense. Then you go back two hours – yes, yes, I know, you're only ever supposed to go back one – and come to me. You'll tell me what happened in that Defense class before you can go on with Transfiguration and Arithmancy."

"Alright... Is there anything specific I should look out for?"

"Try to memorize what Lupins creature turns into for everybody."

Hermione nodded. Together we left the Great Hall and the girl went up the stairs, only to emerge from the dungeons a minute later. It was kinda creepy actually.

She was a little bit out of breath so I told her to calm down before she reported.

"Professor Lupin showed us this... this boggart", she said. "It turned into what the person facing it feared most." She stopped and I frowned at her. She was clearly shaken up about something.

"What happened, Minny?"

"He... He wanted that girl from Ravenclaw to demonstrate but she was scared and so you... you offered to go first. He seemed hesitant at first but let you. And the boggart..."

"What did it turn into?", I asked softly.

Hermione buried her face in her hands. "It turned into... Oh my god, it turned into a dementor! Everything was so cold suddenly and I felt... I felt as if I'd never be happy again. You went white as a sheet and... and then Professor Lupin stepped forward and wanted to banish it but his spell didn't seem to work. He then cast another one and there was a light that chased the boggart back into the wardrobe. He... He canceled the lesson after that because two students fainted and you were all frozen up. They were taken to the hospital wing."

I looked at Hermione blankly for a few seconds. That... was hilarious. Out of all possibilities, dementors were the one thing I was most certainly not afraid of. It was however, what everyone else would expect me to be afraid of, after my stay in Azkaban. That meant that I had indeed cheated. It meant the boggart had been replaced by a real dementor.

Now how the fuck would I convince a dementor to hide in a wardrobe for me?

* * *

I almost had this chapter finished last week... Almost... But I kind of lost interest and since you folks did too I didn't bother updating. That was until someone _did_ in fact read it. Thanks dragoncreators, it's good to see I'm not all alone in this world.


	3. Sick Artist

I'm sorry for the delay. Writing this isn't going as smoothly as in teh beginning. Maybe I'll build in a few more time jumps to bring forth the story.

Enjoy!

* * *

"Are you sure that's the smart thing to do?"

Notch (the snake) had been brought to me by my elf and was now making his discontent about my long absence known by curling around my neck and not letting go.

"You can go back to the dorm if you're afraid", I teased the snake but it didn't sound as steady as I would've liked.

"Those things are vile! They're... they're dangerous!"

"You're right. They're probably some of the most dangerous creatures you can find in the world."

"And you are going to _threaten _them?!"

"Yes."  
"Tell me again why you would think they won't just kill you for it."  
"First: Dementors don't kill. They suck out your soul. Second: They are not allowed to harm students. And last: Hermione said I'd succeed so I _will _succeed."

"I want to have your self-confidence..."

I patted Notch's head and smiled. "Don't worry. I still have my amulett. And of course, I have _this._" I pulled out a ruby red stone and hold it up to let it catch the sunlight.

"A stone", Notch intoned dully. "Charles Potter and a stone against the rest of the world."

"Watch and wonder."

I pulled the invisibility cloak tighter around me – not that it would matter, dementors were blind after all – and continued on my way to the edge of the school grounds. Two minutes later I could feel the cold rolling near but I didn't slow down in the slightest. Two dementors were patrolling the border to the forest. Sirius Black had only escaped this morning, earlier then we had agreed. I was surprised the creatures were already here. Dumbledore would probably announce their presence during breakfast tomorrow. For me it was perfect.

The dementors sensed my presence and were coming closer fast. My fist tightened around the stone and as soon as the first dementor was close enough I raised my wand and levitated the stone and let it drop right onto the creatures hood.

The result was amazing. So far I had had only little time experimenting with the Philosophers Stone but it seemed the will of the user was enough for the stone to turn everything it touched into gold.

This was the first time however I had tried to turn something bigger then a pebble. I had never tried to turn an animal before, much less a magical creature. But Hermione had seen that ultimately my plan would work and thus I felt I could be so bolt to try.

The stone didn't disappoint me. From head to toe the entire dementor froze up first and then his dark cloak turned yellow, the tattered rags got a shiny glow and the rotten flesh turned into solid metal.

The dementor dropped to the ground like a shot pigeon.

My grin was so large it almost split my face in two.

I raised my wand to let the stone float towards the second dementor who had stopped five meters from me and hovered there a little uncertain.

"Do you want to be next, dementor?", I asked, smirking evilly.

I had never heard a dementor speak. One would think otherwise with my stay in Azkaban and everything but those creatures weren't exactly chatty. Theoretically I knew they must be able to but I had never heard their voices. Still I wasn't surprised to hear it sounded raw and rattling.

"What did you do to it?", the dementor asked and his voice alone sent shivers down my spine. "I can not feel his presence anymore."  
"I killed it", I stated boldly.

The dementor distanced itself another few feet.

"That is not possible. We do not die."  
"Let me rephrase then: I destroyed it. If you do not do exactly as I tell you to now, I will do the same with you."

Although its voice was scary, the way the dementor talked made it seem like a deer caught in the headlights. It had obviously never before encountered someone or something that could seriously harm it aside from a Patronus, which only chased it away.

"What do you want?", it asked finally.

"Come here."

The dementor hesitated, but eventually it came closer.

The next step was the most risky one.

"Notch", I whispered, calling my elf. The little thing was terrified seeing the dementor.

"Notch, if I faint now, bring me to my dorm", I instructed him.

Then I pulled of the amulet and with one swift motion, too fast for the dementors effect to really make a difference and I threw the necklace at the creature. My aim was true and the necklace settled around the place where the neck of the thing would've been.

The coldness vanished immediately. There was no sadness, no desperation, no negative feelings at all. Just the humming of triumph. The dementors effect was completely negated.

The creature didn't seem to be able to tell the difference, although it fingered the chain around its head confused.

"Can you still feel my presence?", I asked.

"Of course."

I nodded. "The one next to me too?" I pointed at Notch although it was probably pointless, seeing as those things had no eyes.

"Yes."  
"Take some happy thoughts from him. Not much, mind you, it's just a test."  
Notch looked at me in horror. Soon however he fell to the ground, sobbing and clutching his big ears.

"That's enough", I instructed. The dementor had definitely lost none of its abilities with the amulet on. It was only its passive effects that were dampened. It was perfect.

I instructed the dementor to hide the amulet before I took off my invisibility cloak and threw it over the creature. Now not even I was able to tell where it was.

"Notch, take the golden dementor over there to Nekrys, will you? Tell him it's an early birthday gift from Raven." I had no idea when Nekry's birthday was but I needed to get rid of the evidence and well, it _was _gold so why waste it?

"Follow me", I instructed the dementor and pocketed the stone again.

Once we reached the portal it seemed to hesitate again.

"I am not allowed to trespass", it argued.

"You're my hostage", I scolded him. "You will either do as I say or you'll end up like your friend. The balance of power has changed. Those humans from the ministry, they may give you food and you may take their commands but they have to real power over you. I do. I am stronger then you. Thus it's in your nature to follow my command above everyone elses."  
"Who are you to hold such power?"

I thought for a moment about which name to give him.

"Lestat", I said at last. "My name is Lestat. Tell this name to the others when you return to them. Your kind is no longer invincible."

We passed a group of students and I had to be quiet as to not draw attention to the invisible dementor following me. Quickly I found my way to the empty classroom in which I would have my first defense class in half an hour.

"Stay at the door", I instructed the creature. Then I faced the wardrobe. I had to get rid of the boggart first. For this purpose I had brought a little shrunken dresser with me which I now enlarged. Then I faced the wardrobe.

Wand raised I pointed at the door knob.

"Alohomora!"

The wardrobe sprang open and out of it came – Luna!?

"What the fuck?", I exclaimed and out of shock I even lowered my wand a bit.

Luna came towards me, her gaze crystal clear.

"This is all a game, Charles", she said, smiling. "All of this is a game. Nothing is real. Hogwarts isn't real. Harry isn't real. And you aren't either."

"What?"

"Don't you see it? You're just as fictional as the rest of them. You're a character in a computer game. You're part of the Potterverse."

Slowly I understood where she was going with that. My heart filled with horror. That was indeed a terrifying image. For me myself to be nothing but a cliché villain in a childrens book. For me to be fictional. But I was not. And Luna could go to hell.

"Ridikulus!"

Luna promptly turned into the first creature coming into my mind – a dementor. A dementor with a bright pink cloak and a matching tutu.

"Haha!", I laughed and quickly levitated the wardrobe out of the way. The boggart darted to the side and quickly entered the reserve dresser. I locked it with a quick spell.

"Perfect." I turned to the dementor. "Go into the wardrobe. Stay there until someone opens the door. You might be attacked at first when that happens. If so, just go back in it and wait until I come and fetch you."

The dementor clearly didn't like the command but after another threat of being turned to metal it quickly complied. I locked the wardrobe and sent Notch to take the cloak and stone back to the vault.

Now I was ready for my first defense class.

* * *

Paris

Tom was frustrated with his life. He felt as if things were out of his control and he _hated _not being in control. First there was Lestat who was holding his diary hostage. He could do with that if the boy actually backed up his promise. Instead he hadn't heard of him all summer. He had been sent to another country to wait as if he was the subordinate and Lestat the Lord and not the other way around.

Alright, he had to admit that the guy who was supposed to keep an eye on him was pretty decent. He had been reluctant to teach him Dark Arts at first but could be quickly convinced that he knew how to handle the power. In this summer he had learned more then in six Hogwarts years combined. To see how much more powerful he could get had made him think twice about actually taking Nekrys on on his offer to sign him up in a school. Durmstrang wasn't like Hogwarts. They did teach the Dark Arts there and even a form of Battle Magic. He _really _wanted to learn that. Plus he didn't want Lestat to tease him about not having any NEWT's.

So yeah, he would go along with the plan for the time being. Nekrys had managed to get a fake identity for him under the name of Marvolo Barlet and taught him how to fake a french accent when under the translation spell that surrounded the Norwegian Durmstrang Institute.

In Durmstrang there was a dueling competition going on the entire year. Every Friday the students would fight against each other and the winner would get the privilege of his own rooms. Nobody could beat Tom of course. Having his own quarters had made it possible for him to have his own vanishing cabinet with its counterpart in Paris with Nekrys. That way he could visit over the weekends and get further instruction on the Dark Arts.

It was on a Saturday morning that he left the cabinet and stepped into the living room searching for his mentor.

Nekrys was standing in the middle of the room, staring at some kind of statue in front of him, a look of shock, confusion and fear on his normally carefully neutral face.

"Nekrys?", Tom asked and came closer. "What in Merlins name is that?"  
The necromancer turned to face him. He gave him a helpless shrug.

"I'm... not sure. It seems to be a statue."  
Well, that much was obvious.

Tom came closer to look at the statue. It was a ghastly thing. A cloaked figure reaching our with disfigured hands... It strongly resembled a picture of a dementor Tom had once seen in a book. What kind of sick artist would make a statue like that?

Also the material made him stop. For such a dark motive stone would have been appropriate. Maybe even onyx. But the statue was _yellow._

"You don't think...?"

Nekrys drew his wand and muttered a spell. The shock only became more prominent.

"It's made out of gold", he whispered. "And not just covered by it. It's made out of _pure gold." _

Tom shook his head in disbelief. Who would waste such a great amount of gold on such an ugly statue? It really was a sick joke.

"Who gave it to you?", he wanted to know.

Again Nekrys shrugged. "It was already here when I came home."  
"_What!? _Don't you have some kind of wards up?"  
"Of course I have!" He sounded offended. "I have the whole set. Anti-apparition, anti-portkey and nobody besides you and me is keyed into the floo network. The house doesn't even have normal doors! There's no way a wizard could've come in here. Well, no normal wizard at least."

It was then that Tom noticed a small scrap of paper attached to the back of the statue. It read:

_For Nekrys_

_As an early birthday gift._

_Raven_

Tom passed the message on and Nekrys blanched further.

"How the hell does he know that my birthday is in two days!?"

Tom could see why that would frighten him. 'Nekrys' was just as obvious a fake identity as 'Marvolo Barlet'. As a necromancer he probably had a thousand more reason to hide his true origin then Tom. For someone to find out his birthday meant he knew who he really was.

But Tom was bothered by something else entirely.

"How do you know Raven anyway?"

Nekrys stared at him blankly. "I could ask you the same question."

Lestat Raven, that had been the name all the letters sent to Tom had been signed with. When he had arrived here Nekrys had just offered him a place to stay without asking any questions. They had never really talked about the reasons of this arrangement.

"Clearly", Tom scoffed, "this guy is messing with us. I had assumed he's paying you for letting me stay but it seems you know him better then that. Care to share your knowledge?"

"I'm not sure if we should be doing this, Tom. You don't mess with the Raven. He's an unknown variable. From the few pieces I could see I realized he must be damn powerful and influential. I'm not sure yet if he's really _evil _or if he just enjoys causing chaos but I sure as hell don't want to anger him."

Tom narrowed his eyes. "Exactly _how _powerful do you think he is?"  
Nekrys looked back at the statue. "Powerful enough that I have to wonder if perhaps this is an _actual _dementor transfigured into gold and once the spell wears of it will come and take my soul. Maybe it's a warning that he could kill me whenever he wants to and I would never even know what's coming?"

Tom snorted. "That's impossible. You can't transfigure magical creatures. You can't transfigure things into gold. Ergo, it's impossible to transfigure magical creatures into gold. And that's not even mentioning the amount of control you'd need to get close enough to a dementor long enough to do the deed."  
"You asked my how powerful I think he is. Well, that's my answer."  
"But Raven can't be any older then me! It's just not possible!"

Nekrys gave him a strange look. "Are we talking about the same person here? Raven is at least twice as old as you."

Now he was confused. "Lestat Raven is a student at Hogwarts. That's where I met him."

Understanding dawned on the necromancers face. "So Raven is an actual last name? Who would've thought. You must've met his son then. I never even knew he had one. Didn't strike me as the guy who would."

So Lestat made it possible for Tom to stay here by calling a favor with his father. If the guy was anything like his son Tom could understand Nekrys' awe. But if Raven senior was that powerful, why didn't Lestat mention him? How could they rule the world as equals if there was someone potentially more powerful then them out there? He most certainly wouldn't share the world twice!

"Say, Tom... Did this Lestat by any chance mention Charles Potter to you?", Nekrys asked carefully.

Tom scowled. "Why do you want to know?"  
"It's just... The Potter brat was introduced to me once. As the nephew of a friends relative or something ridiculous. I had to babysit him for two whole days. A few weeks ago I read that he was imprisoned for hurting several Hogwarts students and that was shortly after you came here..."

Tom contemplated that. Nekrys already knew he was probably here because he had to hide from the law. Admitting to something like that shouldn't hurt their relationship. Maybe it would even make it clear that he wasn't one to mess with.

"That was actually my doing. Lestat blamed it on the Potter. Maybe it was a trick. Maybe Lestat is actually friends with Potter. " Then it would make sense why he hadn't been allowed to kill him. "The sentence was unusually mild. Say everybody suspects Potter and then there comes Lestat, makes sure he can stay at Hogwarts and tells him he believes he's innocent. That knowledge would keep him strong while he's in Azkaban and he would be loyal to him once he gets out. Even more so then if Lestat managed to get him out of trouble because the boy would've been his only hope in there."  
"That... sounds like a truly evil plan."

"I totally wouldn't put it past Lestat."

"Me neither. Not if he's anything like his father. So what does this tell us about them?"

"To never trust them when they pretend to be friendly. To always watch our backs." And grinding his teeth he added: "And to never get on their bad side."


	4. Pranking brothers

It was two weeks into the term and Harry was back. I can't say I anticipated it but Hogwarts _was _kinda strange without him around.

Of course my brother knew I had been behind his rescue and he couldn't thank me enough. Apparently Silverspur had picked him up in the Leaky Cauldron where he had made plans to get some of his Gringotts money and fly away before they could take his broom too. The whole process of him being admitted back to Hogwarts had been sped up considerably by the news of Sirius Black escaping Azkaban but Harry didn't know that. Wouldn't have to either. I enjoyed being the hero of the day. The Gryffindors were throwing a party and I was the first snake invited into their tower in what must have been centuries. Of course I declined and I think they were relieved too. They were beyond happy to have their best seeker ever back but Ron was reminding everyone exactly where I had spent my summer and why. Rumors were already starting that I had cooped up with Black in a plot to kill Harry. Completely ignoring that it would have been so much easier for Black to kill Harry at the Dursleys they thought I wanted to have Harry at Hogwarts because that's where Black was heading who couldn't know where to search for him otherwise. As if there wasn't a spell for tracking persons. But well, try to argue with teenies.

Another few weeks went past and soon it was October. After such a good deed I felt it was time for some evil-doing again. That's why I found myself leaning against a pillar down in a less used part of the dungeons waiting for the Weasley twins. They had received a message from me to come here that had been passed through half a dozen hands first. Aside from making sure nobody knew where it came from I just liked to display my power that way. I still waited for them under the invisibility cloak and checked thrice to make sure they were alone before stepping out of the shadows.

"Fred and George Weasley", I whispered, making them jump. They knew of course it was me they were supposed to meet here, they had the Marauders Map after all. I still managed to surprise them a little.

"Before I went to _that place"_, I said without preamble, "you told me I could count on you. You wanted to be in on it when I planned something big. Does your offer still stand?"

The twins exchanged a look. "It does", they said.

"I do have something planned. It's big but it's also... personal. It's likely I'll be the only one affected."

"How big?", the one I decided was Fred asked with gleaming eyes.

"Big enough to put me right back to _that place." _Nobody was supposed to know I wasn't affected by the dementors so I had to appear as if I didn't even dare to speak the places' name anymore.

The twins blanched. "What the hell would you-"  
"-risk that for!?"

"Revenge", I said simply.

Realization dawned on their faces. "You know about Black."

"I need you help."

George nodded grimly. "What can we do for you?"

"I need you to go to your brother Ron and tell him you have a really good idea how he could get back on me for Ginny. In exchange for telling him you ask him to give you his pet rat Scabbers. When he asks, tell him you plan on testing some candy you invented on it."

George shook his head. "I don't really see where this is heading. Why would you want him to get revenge on you?"

"Do not question, George! Did you notice that Professor Lupin is sick really often? Go to Ron and tell him that Lupin is secretly experimenting with some dark creatures that he has to take care of during those days and that he keeps them in his office. He is to drop that information around me, hoping I will go and investigate. Make sure to propose that coming Saturday night would be a really good time to do it since he gets a few new creatures then. That will get me in a potentially life-threatening situation."

"Okay... Wait, is that actually true?"  
I shook my head. "Of course not. But once I tell Lupin all about it he will want to expel Ron for that prank. I would have the power to prevent that though. So you offer to give me Scabbers and a bunch of pranking devices in exchange for keeping quiet about it. You save your brothers skin, he's indebted to you and me, severely humiliated and I get to torture his rat, which he can't do anything about because else I rat him out."

"We thought this had something to do with Black."  
"Now it seems it doesn't, but-"  
"- we can totally understand you wanting revenge on Ron too. Tormenting his pet is kinda creepy..."  
"...but we'll take the challenge."

"There is a condition."  
"Of course there is."

"As soon as you get the rat you have to put it into a cage made out of unbreakable glass. It has to be a strong cage, as heavily warded as you can get it to prevent Scabbers from getting away or anyone getting him out. Never must anyone find out this was my plan though. Understood?"  
The twins mock-saluted. "Yes, Sir! Operation Ratnapping begins!"

"Great. And never forget: Do not question."  
"Do not doubt", Fred added with a grin.

"Tell no one", George said gravely. "Understood, boss."

"I _do _know about Black, by the way, but I don't think Harry does. Don't tell him, at least not yet. Also if you happen to see his name on that handy map of yours, I'd appreciate it if you called me first."  
"How do you know about the map!?"  
"I happen to know one of its creators. Maybe one day when you're especially useful I'll introduce you. For now I trust you with it. Just don't give it anybody else."

They pouted. "Not fair."

I laughed coldly. "When was life ever fair?"

* * *

It was the first Hogsmeade-Weekend. Harry wasn't allowed to go of course and somehow McGonogall and Flitwick decided to go for a walk to the village at just the same time I went with my Slytherin crew. I quickly ordered the nest to provide a distraction and they hold a full blown snowball fight in the middle of the village square. Once the teachers looked the other way I pulled out the invisibility cloak, charmed my shoes not to leave any marks and vanished.

Five minutes later I had made my way to the cave. The cave in which stood a small tend with a big grim-like dog lying in front of it. The dog barked happily and came to greet me. Only when I entered the tent which expanded to hold a whole apartment fully furnished did he change back into a man and hugged me close. I managed to stiff only a little.

"How are you doing, Sirius?", I asked kindly.

"Great!", he beamed, "that little elf of yours is taking good care of me. He brings me food and clothing and stuff. It's been kinda boring actually."

"You'll be more free to move around shortly", I said. "I have opened negotiations with the dementors. As soon as I'm sure they won't hunt you down you can explore the forbidden forest. I want you to find a nice quit place away from curious eyes and ears where we can put our plan into action."

Black gave me a strange look. "Negotiations with the dementors? Did I miss something?"  
"You sure did. I can't explain it right now but I'm planning to take action during the next Hogsmeade-Weekend. We will have our revenge soon."  
Sirius nodded grimly. "That bastard Dumbledore will pay for what he's done to you." But then his expression changed and he had to look down.

"What is it?", I asked worried.

"It's just... I wonder what Remus will think of me. Will he understand?"  
"He doesn't have to know", I whispered. "If everything goes according to plan nobody has to know. If we find Pettigrew maybe you can even step out of the shadows again. We can be a family, you me and Harry."

Sirius smiled sadly. "I would like that very much, Charles."

"Me too. But in order for this to happen Dumbledore has to be removed. He would never allow us to live with you."

The animagus grimaced. "I know that. I don't like it but I'll do it. I'll do it for you, for you and Harry."

Now I was the one to hug him, plastering a great smile on my face. "You have no idea how much that means to me... to finally be free of him..." Did I overdo it a bit? Nah, you can never be childish enough with Sirius.

I pulled back again. "I know you probably won't need it but I still want you to have a wand. There's a room in Hogwarts that stores all the things students have lost over the last thousand years. There have to be a few wands in it. Let's sneak in and get one that fits you."  
"A room that stores lost things? I never heard of that one!"  
"The marauders didn't find out all of Hogwarts secrets, you know?"  
"No way!"

I laughed. "Relax, I already promised you to show you."

I didn't want Black to know about my cloak so I used the disillusionment charm on his animagus form that I had spend the last three weeks to master. After along walk through the tunnel in Honeydukes we got to the Room of Requirement and he picked his wand (or rather, a wand picked him). With that the first part of my plan was complete.

* * *

It was Saturday, the day before another full moon and I was on my way back from another set of Outtakes with Lisa and Theodore trailing behind me. On our way Ron Weasley 'accidentally' bumped into us and Theo immediately started to pick a fight. Ron only fought back weakly and always tried to get past him to pick up the books he had dropped.

That made me suspicious immediately, since when did he carry books around? So I looked closer and noticed a piece of parchment that had 'top secret' not-so-discretely written all over it.

"What do we have here?", I leered, miming the perfect bully and picked it up.

"That's mine!", Ron protested and tried to grab it, but Theo shoved him away.

"Really? Now what kind of secret information could you know?" I held the paper up to tease him but didn't read it. "Who would tell you anything of importance anyway?"  
"Something you could never find out on yourself!", he spat with a hint of triumph.

"Oh?"  
"I know why Lupin is always disappearing and replaced by Snape. He isn't really sick!"

I grinned. "Now you have my attention." I gazed down at the parchment. It only read the current date and a time.

"What does that mean?"

Ron was silent, although it was obvious to me he wanted to tell. I gave Theo a wink and he drew his wand, pointing it at Weasleys throat. "The boss asked you a question, Weasel!"

Weasley tried to look intimated and hide his glee. "Fine! Rumor goes he's experimenting with dark creatures in there and will get a new one today."

"Interesting", I said, seemingly lost in thought. I called the Slytherin back and Ron left not without sneering at me.

"What are you going to do with that information?", Theodore asked curiously.

"The information is false", I stated, "that was plain to see. It's a trap, but a brilliant one."  
"How can it be brilliant if it's plain to see?", Lisa asked confused.

"Oh, I'm not talking about this pathetic display just now. I'm talking about the trap _I _set for _him."_I chuckled. "This will be so much fun."

I spent the rest fo the day going over the Outtakes lessons planned for the new first year muggleborns together with Hermione. As soon as the sun set I excused myself and returned to the common room. I stayed there reading up on bubble head charms for two more hours before I went to bed. Which means I shut the curtains to my bed and put on the invisibility cloak. I went up to Professor Lupins office and had Notch take away the cloak before working to open the door with one of these knifes that open doors that I found in the Room of Hidden Things. I wasn't good enough at ward-breaking to do it with a spell and Alohomora didn't work.

Carefully I opened the door, slipped in and shut it behind me. Only then did I look ahead. The office was empty. There was a desk at the front with the aquarium for the grindeloh and a wardrobe next to it. Disappointed I thought Lupin wasn't here although he should be, the books had said so...

And then I heard a whimper. I heard the noise of claws scratching over stone. Slowly and careful to be quiet I stepped to the side and circled the desk.

There he was. Professor Lupin was curled up behind the desk on the hard ground in his wolf form. His feet were chained to the desk and bleeding where he had struggled against the restraints. His legs were too long and thin for a wolf and his hands resembled more the paws of a bear then a wolf. But his gray fur was far richer then I had expected. He didn't look like the bald monkey from the movie he looked... well, like a werewolf.

I let my eyes widen in horror and took a step back.

"P-Professor Lupin?!", I said raspy. The wolf looked at me, _sniffed _at me and I saw his yellow eyes in widen in real terror as opposed to my fake one.

"Oh my god", I choked out, "but Weasley said..." Then I clasped my mouth shut, turned on my heels and fled the office, locking it with every charm I knew.

* * *

"Charles Potter? I'd like you to stay for a moment."

My nest didn't dare to even shot me a questioning look as I froze on the spot, my back still turned to the teachers table.

"Charles? Is everything alright?" Of course, Hermione hadn't learned yet when her concern was unappreciated.

"Go ahead", I said with a shaky voice. "I'll see you at potions."

Professor Lupin waited until the room was empty before he sighed deeply. He had been twitchy all day and shooting me worried glances. It was three days since I saw him in his wolf form.

"Charles", he began sadly and it was the first time he called me by my first name, "I think we... I think we need to talk about what you saw in my office."

I remained silent.

"I... I want you to know that this is nothing I have purposefully kept a secret. The headmaster knows of my... condition and so do the other teachers."  
"But nobody else does", I whispered.

"No", he admitted. "If the parents knew that... someone like me taught their children, they'd surely demand me to be fired. I also want you to know that I am taking a potion every month that allows me to keep my mind when... when I'm sick." He couldn't even say it out aloud.

"Well, if you hadn't I'd be dead by now", I replied in an attempt to spread false amusement.

Lupin coughed. "Yes, well... Please don't take this the wrong way but I have to know if you've told anyone."  
Slowly I shook my head. "No. I think Hermione will figure it out on her own soon though. She's very bright."

"I see. Well... one year was as much as I could hope for anyway. I can understand it if you don't want to... I mean, if you think it's best to tell your guardians I can't stop you..."  
"Are you kidding?", I asked with a raised eyebrow. "The Dursleys would probably sent you back some tasty recipes for human flesh. They despise both Harry and me simply for being magical. Also compared to the last two professors in this subject I've learned the most with you, even though a lot of it is useless knowledge about how to defend against rare creatures nobody is likely to ever encounter if they don't travel through the wilderness and not actually defense against the dark arts." I just couldn't resist that jab. "I won't tell anybody about it, Professor. I'll even tell Hermione she can trust you."

A massive weight seems to be lifted off Lupins shoulders.

"I – I don't know what to – thank you, Charles."

I grinned. "Hey, I'm a Slytherin. It's always good to have a Professor on your side. Besides our history Professor is a vampire, our charms Professor half goblin and the Professor for care is half giant. There's really no need for you to worry about not fitting into the picture."

Lupin blinked in surprise. "I... never thought about it like that."  
"Really?", I scoffed. "It looks like someone is building up a diplomacy club for magical races. Or just negotiating grounds for forming allegiances for a major war. Hogwarts is more like a fortress then a castle, more like a refugee for politically persecuted then a school for children. More like a death trap then the safest place on the world. Every Slytherin can see that. Then again, who ever listens to Slytherins?"  
Lupin appeared stunned for a moment.

I merely shrugged. "Just saying. There's a reason I wanted to stay in the muggle world originally."

The werewolf shook his head. "I have never... ever had any intention of harming a student. But you're right, accidents can never be counted out. That's why I have to know what you were doing in my office in the middle of the night."  
I managed to look sheepish. "Well, that was a stupid idea, obviously. I'm not sure if you realize this, Sir, but there are already odd rumors about you around the school. Someone told me you were secretly experimenting on dark creatures during those nights and you were supposed to get a new one this evening so I wanted to take a look..."

Lupins face grew ashen. "Did they... did they specifically tell you it was at this time?"  
I nodded hesitantly.

"Who was it?"

"Charles, please, don't you understand? If this person knew about... about me this might've been an attempt to seriously hurt you, maybe even kill you!"

"I... It was just a prank. I don't think he actually meant..." But then I stopped and scowled as if remembering something that contradicted my words.

"Weasley", Lupin said quietly. "That's the name you whispered when you came in here. Tell me Charles, was it Ronald Weasley? I know he blames you for the unfortunate death of his sister..."

My expression darkened.

"Please, Professor, let me resolve this matter on my own."  
"Charles... For such a prank... It can go horribly wrong. Right now it might seem innocent, just an accident, but... I once knew a student just like that. We were together at Hogwarts. He told someone if he wanted to know the secret why I kept disappearing he just had to go to a certain place at a certain time and see it for himself. If another student hadn't hauled him back I could have killed that student, I could have bitten him and the one who saved him on top of it. At that time it seemed to be a prank gone wrong but it _wasn't, _Charles, it wasn't. It was malicious intent."

"I don't know what you mean...", I said hesitantly. I knew exactly what he meant but I wanted him to clarify.

Lupin closed his eyes in pain for a moment. "The student I'm talking about is Sirius Black, Charles. He was friends with your father, Peter Pettigrew and me. He played that really dangerous prank on another student and if your father hadn't saved the victim not only would he have died but I myself would probably have ended kissed by the dementors. Black turned out to be a Death Eater, a traitor and... and he was just a really bad person and if someone is playing such a prank on you _you have to tell me!"_

But I still remained silent although now I was smiling sadly at him.

"I understand, Professor. I really do. But if you bring that student to justice you'll have to reveal your secret and I'd like for you to stay a little longer. Still it might be a good idea to tell him not to spread such things around..."

Lupin deflated a bit but didn't seem to be overly eager to push the issue either.

"Very well, it that is what you want... If you change your mind, come to me whenever you want."

"I'll make sure to do that", I answered politely before excusing myself.

* * *

The next day I met with two tall redheaded boys in the dungeons near the kitchens.

"Do you have it?"

George nodded and pulled out a little cage from his bag. In it sat a brown, sickly looking rat that was chewing on the bars.

"You should've seen Ronnikins face when he came back from his last Defense class", Fred said smugly.  
"Looked about to wet himself."  
"Lupin asked him to stay behind and whatever he said to him it must've been terrifying because he came to us and begged us to find a way how to appease you."  
"We don't know exactly what Lupin said-"  
"-although writing to Mum was probably amongst it-"  
"-but he only fought very little when we proposed giving Scabbers to you."

I took the cage that wasn't much larger then a mans head and looked at Scabbers closely. He was indeed missing a toe.

"Well done", I congratulated the twins. "You have no idea how much you helped me with this."  
"How about as a reward you tell us exactly what Professor Lupins secret is?"  
I smirked. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Not fair!"  
"Really, boys, you _know _that the position is cursed, don't you? Every teacher is bound to have his darkest and dirtiest secrets being publicly exposed at the end of the year, leading to him dying, receive some form of permanent damage or at the very least ruin his reputation forever. Since Professor Lupin isn't a Death Eater and actually knows what he's doing with his wand most of the time, it's likely the third option for him, which means you'll find out soon enough. Just be a little patient."

I left the twins to ponder over this and entered my dorm with my new pet. For this very special day I had ordered a special cage. Aside from being unbreakable and impossible to flee from it also had a charm in place that made sure magic could go in but not out. I placed Scabbers in the cage who only fought a little, not knowing what was coming at him. Then I closed the curtains around my bed and pulled out two books. One was about healing charms and one about curses.

"You know, Scabbers", I began, flipping through the books leisurely, "I always found healing arts really interesting. It's not as popular with the other Slytherins but I'd really like to study it. However there's a little problem. How am I supposed to get actual experience on curing a disease that makes your lose all your hair or empty your stomach five times a day? How am I supposed to heal a wound that is bleeding so profusely you might be left unconscious or even die? How am I supposed to break a curse that will turn your skin inside out or switch your organs places all around your body? How am I supposed to do know if my potion will actually save your from a poison that turned your blood into liquid fire? How am I supposed to do any of that if I don't practice beforehand?"

Scabbers had become very silent in his cage and stared at me with wide eyes.

"That's where I need your help, little one. It's all for science, do you understand?" I laughed. "Of course you don't, you're just a rat. Rats don't actually have emotions. I heard they can't even feel pain the same way humans do. Hm, I'm wondering if rats could scream though..."

My face lit up as I supposedly 'found' a particularly interesting spell in the healing book.  
"Ah, look! I might need a bit more practice for most of the stuff in here but I'm sure I could try this simple spell." I raised my wand at the rat and it scurried along the walls in fear but the cage was far to small for him to get anywhere or even hide form me.

"_Castratus cruenta!"_

As it turned out, rats _could _scream.

* * *

Okay, this is getting really mean. Some more preparations in this chapter but in the next, Charles and Sirius will put their plan into action. I've decided not to write all seven years and as such I have to speed things up a bit.

Tell me, who of you is pitiying Scabbers? ;-)


	5. Halloween

Uh, I'm sorry about not updating faster... But I'm in this state where I'm deciding where the story goes every few pages anew so I change a lot of things. That's why I'm reluctant to post even the bits I have because maybe tomorrow I want to write things diffrently. But, well, I'm pretty sure about the outcome of _this _in particular so you get to read it. Enjoy!

* * *

Halloween.

I always wanted to do this. From day one onwards I had always wanted to do this: to pretend to be Harry.

Not in order to be loved and worshiped or some such crap but to bring my brother into deep shit trouble, to do some really evil deed and make everyone believe it was him.

Now I had my chance. This was going to be so awesome.

Everything was prepared. Hermione had slipped Fred and George some sleeping potion so they wouldn't sneak around the school and witness the event by accident through the map. Three days ago a weak but persistent poison had found its way into Mrs Norris food and Filch was busy taking care of her and never leaving her side. The Baron told Peeves to hunt a part of the castle far to the north and even the vampiric history professor, the unknown variable, was celebrating the sacred feast of Samhain with his kind away from the castle.

I was just heading out to meet with Sirius under my cloak, way after the feast had long ended, when I saw a lone figure standing in the portal, gazing at the stars. I cursed silently and prepared to move around the person, confident that my cloak would keep my hidden. But then she turned around, looked exactly at the point where I stood and said:  
"The nargles are beautiful tonight, aren't they?"  
Forcefully I removed the cloak and started at Luna. Then I grinned. "Why yes, yes they are. What are you doing here?"  
Luna smiled at me and heaved up a large package that was laying to her feet. "I came here as part of a quest. It was given to me by one of the school owls."

I raised an eyebrow. "Owls can give you quests?"  
"Well, normally no, only when you chose to be Luna."  
"Oh. Makes sense."  
"I wouldn't have taken it, the experience gained was really low, but then I thought maybe it could be a chain quest, you know?"

I shifted, suddenly reminded of my boggart.

Hastily I took the package from her and unpacked. Within I found a smooth green leather suit. For a moment I was confused but then my eyes widened in shock and delight.

"This is – wow! This is perfect timing! I need to try it out – uh, Luna, could you, you know?"

She looked at me puzzled. "What?"

"You know... _turn around?"_

Again she just looked at me confused, before chuckling. "Really, Charles? Really? It's not like it's your real body."

"Yes, I know, still... I'm kind of awkward with this, just give me some space."

Chuckling some more she turned around and I quickly put on the basilisk leather armor before throwing my cloak over it.

"Okay", I said, "now let's test it. Sent a curse at me."

Lunas eyes glazed over for a moment. "I don't need to. I can tell like that. Your stats have improved immensely! Physical and magical resistance is way over what should be possible at your level! I'm surprised this armor doesn't have a higher level restriction."  
"Yes, well, it was a reward from a really difficult quest... Now would you?"  
Luna sighed and cast a couple of curses at me but none of them left any effect. Satisfied I put on the helmet too. Just as ordered it had a nice little charm that made it vanish from sight upon tapping it with your wand.

"How did you know I was here anyway?"  
"Since I came to you as part of the quest your name appeared on my minimap."  
Aw, I wanted such a map too!

"That reminds me, are you by any chance bound to some kind of saving point, you know, in case you died?"

"Of course. I'm bound do the Great Hall."

"And... you don't happen do be able to revive other players, do you?"  
She snorted. "I'm not a priest. Why, do you expect to die?"  
"Well, no..." I really, really, _really _didn't want to, that was for sure. "But I have this really big quest and it's difficult to do on my own. It's a... a boss hunt."

"Oh? What level?"  
"You know I can't see levels. The quest is about killing a certain wizard from the... light fraction. I know you probably wouldn't have chosen a side this early and even then it didn't have to be the dark but..."  
"Just tell me who you want to kill. Maybe I can help you."

Damn. I had no real excuse to demand she didn't tell anyone about this. But as a player in a computer game, what kind of reason could you possibly have to talk to an NPC about a quest from another player?

"I have to kill Dumbledore", I said finally.

Lunas eyes widened. "Dumbledore!? But he's – he's level 94! You're only level 33 and even with my help and that armor of yours it will be impossible to defeat him."

"I don't have to defeat him", I meant. "I just have to catch him off-guard. Also I have a couple of high level monsters at hand who will help me. It doesn't hurt to try, does it?"

Luna sighed. "Fine, I'll do it. Don't have anything better to do anyway."

"Well then, let's take down Dumbledore, shall we?"

She nodded mutely and I lead her into the forest. Sirius was already waiting for me but he pressed himself low to the ground and let out a small whine when he caught sight of Luna.

"It's okay", I reassured him, "she will help us." I would've preferred to prevent him from finding out about Luna but it was too late for that now.

Together we assessed the clearing I had chosen. I called Notch to sent for the dementors and wrote a short letter that would lure Dumbledore here. Soon I saw the black cloaks of the dementors approach. Luna scowled. Suddenly she held a flute in her hand, played a lovely little melody and her body visibly relaxed.

"Your charm works on dementors too", I told her, "and with some luck it may even protect them from a patronus. Cast it on as many as you can once Dumbledore arrives."

Luna gave her okay and left to hide.

"As soon as Dumbledore arrives, you attack him", I whispered to the Dementors. "Do you understand?"

The dark creatures seemed to exchange looks – meaning they turned towards each other but of course they didn't have any eyes to really look. Maybe they were communicating vial telepathy or something like that.

"Are we allowed to eat the humans soul?", one of the dementors asked with its raspy voice.

"Of course you are. I want all of you to attack but only one or two at a time should try to take his soul. I try to keep as many of you protected from his patronus but even my power is limited."

I looked over to where Luna was hiding at the edge of the forest to see if she had heard me. She had and gave me a nod. She would concentrate her magic on those dementors trying to take the headmasters soul.

"Alright", I said, "he should be here any moment. Sirius, watch the edge of the forest and tell me when you smell something."

The huge dog next to me let out a grim growl and began to head to the border of the clearing. Just as he was about to reach it a huge fire ball appeared in front if him. Sirius jumped into the air and let out an angry bark. I realized just a second too late that it was Dumbledore arriving via phoenix travel.

There was no time to stage the fake dementors attack on me. Sirius took his chance and went right for Dumbledores throat but a flick of his wand sent the grim-like dog hurling through the air. For a moment I just stared at him in shock.

"Harry!", the old man exclaimed, "are you alright?"

"What the fuck-"

I drew my wand. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe I could still surprise him if he thought I was Harry.

"Avada Kedavra!", I screamed just as a dozen dementors rushed down on Dumbledore.

The headmaster dodged and gave such a shocked and disappointed look that it was _almost_ worth it – then he answered with a curse on his own.

I notched to the side and now the dementors were taking effect. Dumbeldore needed a few seconds to cast his patronus and these seconds I used to pull out the philosophers stone from my pocket.

"Goddamn old goat", I cursed and notched again, just to confuse him. I levitated the stone forward like I had done with the dementor before and it – bumped into a blue magical shield. Shit.

"Charles, what the hell are you doing?", Luna called enraged and now Dumbeldore had noticed her and knew that I wasn't Harry and just _how _had this whole plan turned towards the bad end?

For a moment I was distracted and a white curse hit me. My armor made sure nothing happened but next Dumbledore transfigured a boulder into a lion and the beast attacked me. I managed to hit it with a curse but it didn't seem fazed at all and in the next second giant pranks were holding me down. I was still able to see what happened around me but I couldn't move. Fawkes was keeping Sirius from approaching Dumbledore who fought off the dementors. But those seemed to have realized that the artifact of doom was no longer in my possession. One of them hovered right above the small red stone as if afraid I'd grab it. Another five swarmed down on me and I couldn't move, I yelled but nobody answered and then one of them pulled its hood back and then – and then there was nothing.

* * *

Halloween.

I always wanted to do this. From day one onwards I had always wanted to do this: to pretend to be Harry.

This was the day I would kill Dumbledore. Things were even better looking then I'd have thought. On the way to the forest Luna was waiting for me with a package that contained my basilisk armor.

"That reminds me, are you by any chance bound to some kind of saving point, you know, in case you died?", I asked in a good mood.

Luna chuckled at me. "Honestly, Charles, I'm beginning to doubt you're a player at all. How can you possibly be this forgetful?"  
"Huh?"

"I already told you I was bound to the Great Hall. You already told me about the boss hunt that's going on and what I had to do to help you. Since you died so fast last time I did too. I thought you were aiming for a particular outcome so I restarted. This is our second try."

I felt all the blood drain from my face. In a computer game you would go on your quest and if you failed you could simply die and try over from your last checkpoint. NPC and monsters acted exactly the same way in those cases. Dialogues and cinematics were the same. Whenever it was your first, second or dozenth try didn't have any effect on the result. The computer didn't remember it.

Luna said we had already tried to kill Dumbledore, the 'boss monster' and had died doing so. Then _why couldn't I remember?!_

The image of my boggart was there again, mocking me. _You're not real. You're just a fictional character in a game. You're part of the Potteruniverse._

I shook my head fiercely. That couldn't be true. I knew I had to look into it nonetheless but right now I couldn't make Luna suspicious.

"Right. I just wanted to check where you were bound to. Any hints for me?"

"Well, obviously trying to turn Dumbledore into gold won't work. Don't try that. And remember he'll arrive via phoenix very fast."

"Alright... This time we'll do it better." And if we didn't we'd just do it again. Hell, did this mean I was actually immortal? Or was I just immortal as long as Luna was here? I really had to research this!

"Let's take down Dumbledore, shall we?"

I took Luna to the clearing where Sirius was waiting already. I reassured the dog that she was with us even as she went to hide without question.

I called the dementors, sent my letter to Dumbledore and got into position. Soon the dementors were swarming around me and I curled into a ball, pretending to sob desperately.

Suddenly there was a burst of flames as the headmaster arrived. He sent off his patronus immediately. I could see Luna was having trouble bewitching all the dementors because a good part of them fled upon seeing the silver phoenix.

I was careful not to move too much and appear helpless as I watched Dumbledore fight against the dementors. He was actually apparating around to avoid those that seemed to be immune to the patronus' power.

"Harry – we have to go, now! Come on, my boy", he called and grabbed my arm. I didn't want to be apparated away so I struggled against him and freed myself.

"Harry, you're in danger!"

I snorted in disgust. "I'm not Harry – and the one in danger is you!"

Dumbledore looked at me as if I'd turned into a penguin.

"What?"

I watched his expression change from confusion to shock to sadness and felt a rush of power.

"Silly old man", I purred and crouched into a defensive stance. "You are really too trusting, do you know that?"

Dumbledore looked as if he was made of rock. Fawkes was fighting off the dementors alone and screeching at his master for help. But his attention was locked on me. It was good that he didn't attempt to apparate me again. In the distance I could see Sirius approaching, waiting for the right moment. If I could just distract him a little longer...

"You're not Harry", Dumbledore realized.

"Wow, look who's clever! Took you long enough." I smiled my best Tom-Riddle-smirk.

"Charles?", he asked, as if he was still hoping for a negative answer.

"I knew you wouldn't come if I called for help for myself... So I had to find another bait to lure you into this fine trap."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. Behind him Sirius was sneaking closer. "Of course I would've helped you. What makes you think I wouldn't?"  
"Oh please! I know Harry's your favorite. He's everyone's favorite. You gave him our fathers cloak – not me. Of course I stole it from him. He let it lay around carelessly in the castle, the stupid fool. You gave him all those little hints to be able to find the stone in our first year so he could play the hero. I know he'd have been able to defeat Moldyshorts on his own. I merely saved him so he'd be indebted to me. And you know what? I walked away from the deed with one awesome Philosophers Stone."

"Charles", the headmaster said quietly, "I am sorry if I made you feel as if you were worth less. That was never my intention. But this is not like you! You can be a hero too, maybe even a better one then your brother. If only you use your power and intellect to protect those weaker then you like you protect him-"

"Protect him?", I laughed. "I'm merely sparing Harry for a special occasion. I don't want to be a hero. I made up my mind on my very first day of Hogwarts and I've been planning your downfall ever since then. Do you remember little Ginny Weasley?"

Dumbledore blanched. "No!"

I smirked again. "It really _was _Riddle who killed her. I had to let him. Do you know why? Because that was the only way he agreed to form an alliance with me."

Now the old wizard was as white as a sheet. "Why... would you ever... ally with _him? _He killed your parents!"  
I snorted again. "Parents I never knew. This isn't about who's the hero, it's about who's the strongest. Also being the good guy is _boring."  
_"Whatever you're searching for, he can't give it to you!"

"Don't you understand? He's not using me, _I'm _using _him! _I'm holding his precious soul-piece hostage, Slytherins monster only listens to me and would be eager to give me some venom any time. He knows that, he knows he doesn't have any choice..."

"But _why?! _Why do you do it? What do you have to prove?"

"Prove?", I snarled. "I have to prove that I'm _alive! _I have to prove that I'm _real. _Hurting you, crushing your silly pink little world makes me feel _alive."_ I raised my wand at him. "Goodbye, Dumbledore."

There was a dementor to his right so when I fired my curse at him he could only dodge to the left. It was a predictable move. In the same second a big black dog lunged at the spot where the headmaster had to jump at. His sharp claws tore through fabric and flesh even as he knocked the old wizard to the ground and went for his throat.

I watched mesmerized as the greatest wizard of the century was ripped to shreds by a _dog_. Mission complete.

Only when Dumbledoes heart stopped beating did Sirius return into his human form. He looked down at his bloody hands in disgust and spit to the ground. The he looked at me and immediately I knew I had made a mistake. Yes, shaking up Dumbledore had prevented him from noticing Sirius but the look the animagus gave me made me realize that having _him _witness this could ruin all my plans.

"Charles", he said hoarsely. "That's not... That was a lie, wasn't it? What you said about... what you said just now?"

I opened my mouth to say _yes, _of course it was a lie even if I knew Sirius would never really trust me again. But then my gaze fell on Dumbledores corpse and on the wand in his hand.

GODDAMN SHIT!

How could I possible forget? Sirius had killed Dumbledore – therefore, he was the master of the Elder wand. The wand that belonged to _me! _

So I raised my own wand at Sirius, putting on an evil smirk almost out of habit.

"What do you think, Sirius?" The words for the deadly curse were already on my lips.

And then – then that fucking phoenix came screeching down at us and snatched away my wand.

WHAT THE HELL!?

Sirius had a furious look on his face. I was suddenly reminded that even more then Dumbledore or Voldemort or his family Sirius Black hated _traitors. _As he turned back into a dog and big sharp teeth was all I felt I thought _damn, _just how had this whole plan turned towards the bad end?

* * *

Halloween.

I always wanted to do this. From day one onwards I had always wanted to do this: to pretend to be Harry.

But I was confused. Today was supposed to be the day I killed Dumbledore. Everything looked fine at first too. I even met Luna who brought me my basilisk armor. But now she was ranting at me how we already failed twice to kill the headmaster and how I always messed things up and died.

"Also _don't brag! _I mean, sure, it _did _distract him enough so that Sirius could kill him but you lost Sirius over it and nothing is won when he bites off your head", she said.

"Wait, Sirius bit off my head?!" Sirius was absolutely devoted to me! What kind of stupid stunt had I pulled to make him hate me?

"Well, he bit through your throat but that's the same thing. Don't change the subject! This time you stay undercover as long as possible. Have you never read the evil overlord's list? Come on, you can do this!"  
"Alright", I said hesitantly, still trying to process the shock that I had _died, _not once but _twice _and couldn't even remember. "What do you propose we do?"

"If it isn't anchored my cheering charm holds up to two minutes. Why don't I charm all the dementors in advance this time? I know that gives us less time when dealing with Dumbledore but they'd be immune against his patronus and still be able to feed off him during those two minutes. I can cast my own anti-apparition ward. You just have to give the dementors more time and keep away from Fawkes."

"Okay..." Wait, did this mean I was actually immortal? Or was I just immortal as long as Luna was here? It seemed as long as Luna wasn't saving her game when I was dead I'd just be alive again when she restarted. The same wouldn't apply for me since I couldn't remember those times, right? Or was she just some kind of crazy seer that was able to see possible outcomes of our fight just the way I had pretended I could with Hermione? I really had to research this! But not now. Now I had to take down Dumbledore. Hopefully this time for real!


	6. Phoenix' Death

Albus Dumbledore should've known that something would happen today. It was, after all, Halloween. Granted, the terror of Halloween originated from Voldemorts first rise. Whenever he planned a particularly nasty strike against the world it would always happen on this date. Since that fateful night however his Halloweens had started to be just normal feasts again. That was until two years ago. He should've known better then to believe he was allowed some rest.

The old wizard was just preparing to head for his bed when a plain barn owl picked at his window. It had a letter with him, or more like a note. The handwriting was that of a student, although he didn't recognize it. It was very shaky as if the writer had had a hard time concentrating on forming clear lines.

It read:

_Professor,_

_I just woke up from an outright terrifying dream. In it my brother was attacked by the very same darkness that I had to spent so much time in. Professor, I would have dismissed it as one of many nightmares but it had this distinct feeling to it that I sometimes get when Harry is in danger. He is my twin and I used to know when he needed me most. I want to help him, I really do, but I just can't bring myself to face those creatures again. You know what I think of you so you know that I wouldn't ask this if I didn't think he was in grave danger. Just this once, do your duty as a headmaster of this school and save my brother!_

_Charles_

There were many secrets surrounding Charles Potter. Dumbledore was neither blind nor dumb. He had heard the whispers, seen the strange coincidences and drawn his own conclusions.

If you asked ten different people who Charles Potter was you would get ten different answers.

The Slytherin thought he was Slytherins heir, some even going as far as to think he was the very incarnation of the founder himself, most surprisingly the Bloody Baron being amongst them.

The Gryffindors thought he was the next Dark Lord while the other two houses still thought of him like a hero gone wrong but who would come back to them when they needed him.

For Harry Charles was simply his brother, his most talented twin who could see into the future.

Severus Snape had hinted at him that the truth was far more terrifying and had something to do with the scar on the boy's forehead. However he couldn't say more because of an magical oath he had taken.

But even so there were people in Charles Potter's... _nest_ he thought they called it, that were just not the kind of persons that would follow a heir of Slytherin. They too had to have some form of opinion of him, even if it was likely that they were false.

There were only two things Dumbledore could be sure of about Charles Potter. One was that he was dangerous, unlikely to ever willingly work together with him and knew stuff nobody his age should know about. The second was that he loved his twin.

Dumbledore had carefully kept his distance from the boy and watched in order to make sure of that second point. Charles had always protected his twin before they came to Hogwarts and even after that he had saved his life more then once, even when there was no personal gain for him, even when he had to put his own life in the line. The headmaster was putting all his hopes in that love between the brothers. Through that love he saw a chance to reach Charles. If Harry was lost that would be terrible but losing Charles to the darkness because of it would be catastrophic.

Quickly Dumbledore checked his multiple devices. They only told him that both twins were on school grounds still, not where they were. Charles had hinted that it was a dementor who threatened his brother so he checked whenever any of these creatures had left their assigned positions – and nearly fell from his chair in shock. Around two third of all the dementors stationed here, which had to be around one hundred and fifty in total, were assembled somewhere in the middle of the forbidden forest.

Dumbledore grabbed his wand.

"Fawkes", he called out and the phoenix was there in a second, landing on his shoulder and flashing him away in a powerful flame.

The picture that awaited him upon arriving on the clearing was terrifying to say the least.

Harry Potter had sunken to his knees, his hand clutching his head in a silent scream as dozens and dozens of dementors came swarming down on him, took a deep breath and went up again. The full force of their dark power hit Dumbledore straight on and for a moment his own knees buckled.

"EXPECTO PATRONOM!", he screamed and a brilliant phoenix burst out of his wand. The phoenix let out a beautiful cry and swept towards the dementors. Many of them were chased way but a far to high number of them wasn't. Instead they came circling closer around Dumbledore. Voices started to shout in his head, images flashed by. His father being dragged away by ministry officers to be left to rot in Azkaban. His mother in her open coffin at the funeral. Ariana lying on the ground, eyes wide and empty and him and Gellert exchanging a look over her body, bother equally surprised, equally horrified and with the same disturbing question written all over their faces.

Then Fawkes let out his own cry and warmth began to fill him again. But from the distance of the woods came another tune that sounded like music and just like that the warmth was gone again.

Dumbledore ran over to the boy who let out a terrible scream. He called for Fawkes, planning on fire-traveling together with the boy. But just then a dementor came flying straight towards him, so fast it almost hit him in the face. In fact if Dumbledores legs hadn't been so weakened that they threatened to give in under him he would've probably run right into it and the dementor had its hood down, that terrible mouth wide open...

And the headmaster transfigured a nearby rock into a shield and slammed it into the dementor.

"Fawkes, take the boy and go!", he screamed.

But the phoenix hesitated for only a moment. Dumbledore raised his wand to cast a detection charm, anything that would let him know what was going on and why his patronus wasn't working – and then there was a noise at the right from him. He only had a split second to turn around and pull up a shield as a massive, grim-like dog slammed into him. Absentmindedly he noticed his fur was covered in mud and leaves, it must have been hiding, lurking in the shadows.

Dementors were coming down at him from all sides as he slowly stepped backwards towards Harry who was crying now. Despair threatened to overcome him. The dog growled at him, unaffected from the dementors pull. Then they were rushing down at him all at once. The dog lunged, the dementors came crushing down and for a moment Dumbledore thought this might be his end – but then Fawkes let out another fiery cry. It was loud, louder then everything he had ever heard and it went straight through his chest like a sword, leaving his mind dizzy and his ears almost deaf. Dumbledore was enveloped in flames. No, I can't leave yet, I have to save him; he thought frantically.

But when the fire vanished he was still on the clearing. He was still on the clearing and the dog was lying there unconscious and there was nothing left of the dementors but tattered clothing.

For a moment Dumbledore simply gaped because even he had thought it impossible for a dementor to be destroyed. For dementors were creatures of death and death could be defeated by nothing but... but life. And then he noticed that Fawkes too was nowhere to be seen.

Swallowing a big lump in his throat Dumbledore rose to his feet, not even realizing when he had sunken to his feet and dragged himself over to the little boy that was sitting on the ground, sobbing and hiding his face in his hands. He could still hear only very little but he saw his shoulders shaking.

"It's alright, my boy", he whispered and laid a hand on the shoulder of the child. "They're gone. Come with me..." Said child grabbed his wand hand and clung to him like it was a life line, sobbing quietly. Dumbledore was torn between reassuring him and freeing himself from his tight grip because he didn't know if all the dementors were gone and when more came he'd need his wand.

And then the boy looked up at him and although his hair was short, his robes red-trimmed and his scar the other way around Dumbledore still saw a few inconsistencies in his face. But only when the look in those emerald green eyes lost all of its faked pain and made room for coldness, coldness that pulled at the corner of his mouth, was the shaking of his shoulders identified as a chuckle.

"Charles?", Dumbledore asked. There was no alarm, not even shock, just a slight confusion. Then he felt a short, almost unnoticeable pain in his back. Something hot was spreading from that spot where his heart lay, that heart that was too trusting, that was still believing in love. Dumbledore whirled around. The boy still hold onto his wand arm but he pointed behind with his free one anyway and fired a wandless, potentially lethal spell. Even as he did so all of his strength left him and he felt himself falling to the ground, only to look up... at Harry? Harry with a bloody knife in his hand, staring down at him coldly, the curse dissipating harmlessly against his chest as if it was solid stone instead of a human body.

No, it couldn't be. They couldn't both be going dark. The world wouldn't survive it if they were.

For the last thought to cross his mind before dying, he thought, it was a very sad one. He tried to imagine a happy one instead, even though his patronus had long since vanished. He tried to think of his family, but there was only Aberforth, who hated him. He tried to think of his friends, but there were only his soldiers, who he had left alone. He tried to think of love, but all that was coming to his mind was Gellerts face, distorted in anger who called him a traitor as he was dragged away to Nurmengrad. And so Albus Dumbledore died and he couldn't help but think that even though he was such a great wizard he had failed in life.

* * *

As soon as the little red point on her minimap turned black the tension drained from Luna Lovegoods body. She sighed contently and dropped the invisibility cloak her ally and lend her. Then a message popped up.

"Wow", she said, her eyes widening, "I got over two million EP from this kill! That's got to... Yes, my level rose twice just from that!" She bounced on her heels happily.

Then she noticed that Charles had scrambled to his feet and left the clearring in a hurry.

"Huh? What's wrong with him?", she asked and turned to the second person, who her map declared was also Charles. But that wasn't possible, was it?"

"I didn't want to do this a third time so I used a time turner", Charles explained to her. "That version of my character over there is currently running on autopilot while it goes back to find a secluded spot before 'going back in time' and becoming me. Really it's just a skill that lets you make clones of yourself and then switch places with them."  
"Wow, that's an awesome skill!", she beamed, if even a bit jealous. "I wish I had something like that."  
"Well, it's only temporally available to me... But Luna, if you hadn't protected the dementors from the patronus and took away the phoenix' buff on Dumbledore we might not have made it. Your skills are very useful in that the wizarding world doesn't have anything like that."

She smiled at him happily. "Let's look what we can loot from the boss."  
Charles stepped forward and took the wand out of the old mans hand. It let out a golden spark in his hand. Luna supposed it was fair for him to take the most valuable item. She was sure she could've sold it to a good price but her main weapons were instruments so she wouldn't have been able to use this item to its fullest anyway.

They found a few trinkets, including the deilluminator that allowed you to floo-travel to any person you wanted, a feather of the now dead phoenix, his glasses enchantment to see through most concealment charms and a few galleons. Charles insisted on her having the deilluminator, which was awesome in itself because she didn't have any other means to teleport until she got the apparition skill. He took the feather and she got the glasses, which she could sell on an auction side, and the money.

"It was great playing with you, as always", he said with a smile when they were finished. "Please continue to let me know whenever you're online."  
"Oh, I'll have time in two days again. I think it's the exams next. Do you have-" Then she stopped mid-sentence and scowled.

If Charles was an intruder in her gameplay but she didn't have any problems with it that meant that he would've had to complete all the mandatory quests for his character in order to reach the exam phase time-wise each year. Sure, sometimes there had been a few days between her playing but he was playing a main character and was bound to have far more quests then Luna did. How had he managed to get all the mandatory quests done in such a short time? His level was really high for a third year character, even a main one. To gain this much experience he must've completed a number of normal quests too. Just how did he have the time to do so? It was merely a week since she last saw him! And why had he been that confused every time they revived and started over the fight? Moreover she had never heard of the adventurer subclass before. Of course she was new to the Harry Potter visual game but wasn't it very unusual for a player to not to have a minimap or even a search function?

Maybe Charles was a bot. An artificial intelligence, an experiment within the game. Some sort of guide to give out special quests. Without him she certainly would've never stumbled over this boss-hunt, at least not this early. It would mean that Charles was really a NPC and would explain his confusion when being revived. But her conversations with him felt just like conversations with a real human.

Luna decided to let it go for the moment and search the internet for an adventurer class first. That was what he had said his class was, wasn't it?

"Anyway", she said out aloud, "I'll head back for the castle. See you around."  
"Sure thing. Go ahead, I still have to get rid of the body."

She gave him a strange look. "Won't it just vanish after some time?"  
"Real life simulation, remember? We're going down the dark path, they'll want to get at us for murder. Also I have to take care of Sirius."  
"Okay, if you're sure..." She shrugged it off but secretly it was a point added to the growing list of suspicions.

Charles Potter was a strange character indeed but then again he had helped her to raise two levels, which wasn't easy as far ahead as she already was. She would continue to play with him even if he was a bot, but if that was the case at least she wanted to know. It would be really embarrassing for her to think of him as a real friend or god forbid to fall in love if he was a just another computer.

* * *

"Uh..."

Sirius Black woke up with a seriously bad headache. He needed a full five seconds to remember why. For another three seconds he continued to just lie on the ground and listen to his surroundings in hope of finding out what kind of situation he was in. For one he could feel that he was human, not a dog as he was sure he had been when that blinding light had stuck him. That could mean two things. One he had been left alone and unconscious for a long time until he had transformed back automatically. Two he had been captured and someone had forced the transformation.

It was quiet around him. There were no more fighting noises and he couldn't feel a dementor near. Still if his enemy didn't know yet that he was awake he couldn't give away that advantage. That's why he opened his eyes only a tiny slit wide and glanced around.

Sighing in relief he sat ub when he noticed he was back in the tent. Charles was sitting at the kitchen table, his legs propped up on it and reading a book about transfiguration.

"What happened?", he asked, still somewhat nervous. "I passed out through half of it... Are you alright? What about Dumbledore?"

Charles discarded the book. For a moment he gave Sirius a look he couldn't identify and there was a terrible sinking feeling in his stomach for a second – then Charles smiled reassuringly.

"I'm fine. After you passed out it was pretty close for a moment but I still had an ace up my sleeve. The headmaster will never be able to threaten my brother or me ever again."

Sirius swallowed hard. "So... So that means... Where is he?"  
"He's at the place where vanished objects go."

"You can't vanish a person."  
"No, but you can vanish a corpse."

The dog animagus let out the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "That's... good, I guess. Hell, there's so much that could've gone wrong with this plan – but we actually made it!" But then his expression became alarmed. "Wait, shouldn't you be at Hogwarts? They'll be in disorder when they find out about Dumbledore. You can't be missing at a time like that!"

"I've got a good alibi. Besides while it is known that I don't like the headmaster I never told anybody the extent of my hatred for him. Therefore I shouldn't have a motive at all. You'll be the most likely suspect."

"Yes but... It wasn't me. Even though I surprised him he just whisked me away like nothing. How _did _you do it?"

The Slytherin smirked at him. "Now that would be telling."

Sirius smiled back at him. There was a little uncomfortable pull somewhere in his heart but he ignored it. He had saved his godson. Today he had repaid just a little bit of his enormous dept to the Potter twins. It should have felt better. But even though Dumbeldore had turned out to be some kind of heartless mastermind, he was still that mysterious old wizard who had lead Sirius' generation through a whole decade of war. He had been a teacher once, a grandfather-figure, maybe even a friend. His betrayal had felt terrible but not as terrible as Peter's. Also Sirius would never be allowed to tell anyone the truth. If people found out about what happened today he would take all the blame himself and they would think him the traitor and Voldemorts right hand and whatnot. It wasn't new to him and he'd do it, for Charles, but... and he almost felt guilty about it... but he didn't feel as determined about it as he'd felt when he'd hunted down Peter. It was irrational. He didn't know where Peter was but he clearly wasn't an urgent threat to his godson. Therefore killing Dumbledore had had priority. But he still hadn't... He didn't... He still felt kind of bad for the old man.

"You don't have to be happy", Charles whispered, as if he knew exactly what he was thinking about. "We reached a major victory today but that doesn't mean it's something to celebrate. One should never celebrate the death of another human being, regardless of what he's done. There are always people who'll be sad or angry because of it. We didn't kill him out of revenge or anger or hatred. We killed him because it was necessary. You don't have to be happy. You don't have to feel guilty either. Just move on."

Sirius swallowed hard. "You... You're right. God, I know you're right. How can you be so young and still sound so wise?"

Charles smiled wryly. "It's in the name. The boy-who-lived. _Lived, _Sirius, not _lives. _All I'm doing these days is find ways to _survive. _I've been forced to grow up years ago."

"Still, you shouldn't have to live with that burden. It should've been me who killed him at last. You were only supposed to distract him!"

"We can't change what happened."

Sirius nodded miserably. For a few moments it was silent. The animagus noticed that Charles was still watching him. "What?"

"If there's something else you want to say... If you want to talk about it some more, this will be the last chance. After today, we will never speak of it ever again. We won't even refer to it, not by words, and most definitely not by letters. We must not risk that anybody ever find out about it."

Sirius shook his head. "It's alright. I'm the adult here and I refuse to be miserable. I promised to protect you and that I will do. There's nothing else to say."

"I see." He chuckled a bit. "For all your braveness of standing up against the greatest wizard of the century I still have to wonder wherever your admirable loyalty doesn't make you a Hufflepuff." Sirius tried to be indignant but there was such a look like... almost like _longing _in his godsons eyes that he refrained from commenting. "You are... certainly the strongest Hufflepuff I've ever met. I wonder if maybe that is what having a family would feel like."

At that Sirius couldn't hold it any longer. He grabbed the boy and pulled him in a bone-crushing hug.

"I _am _you family, Charles", he whispered, desperately not allowing his eyes to water. "I am your godfather. I'll always be there for you."

"Promise?", Charles choked and Sirus hold him tighter so he wouldn't see if there were tears in his eyes because he knew the boy wouldn't want to show weakness in front of him.

"Of course", he answered with a tight voice, "I swear."

"Really? Do you swear... on your magic... to always be at my side?"

Sirius stopped at that.

Unlike certain little schoolboys he knew what a magical oath was and what the consequences would be if he broke it. He wasn't sure if Charles knew what he was asking for though. Still when he pulled away and looked at him his alarm showed on his face and he hated himself for it. Because there _where _tears glittering in Charles' eyes and when the boy averted them in embarrassment he knew he shouldn't have looked.

"I... I'm sorry", he murmured and pulled away from Sirius. "I shouldn't have... That's was stupid of me, I'm sorry."

Sirius saw how Charles distanced himself from him, not only physically but also with his heart and he couldn't stand the sight. He saw it like a vision how Charles pulled up a wall of ice around him, how nobody could reach him anymore because his parents had died and Harry couldn't understand him and he just _had no one else. _Lily and James had made Sirius Charles godfather. Remus had been Harrys but of course Dumbledore would be able to find a way to prevent him from getting guardianship because he was a werewolf if only he tried hard enough. So what if asking for magical oaths from people you wanted to follow you was a red alarm sign for anyone who knew how dark wizards worked? This was his godson and he was just a little insecure, he just needed to know that he was being loved...

"Charles, listen to me", Sirius said and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at him. "I swear to you, I swear on my magic that I will always be on your side and fight alongside you whenever you need me to."

Charles looked up at him with those bright green eyes of his and he smiled brightly. For the first time since Sirius woke up... No, for the first time since he saw him as a _baby _Charles smiled at him like a child ought to.

"Thank you, Sirius. You have no idea how much this means to me."

But that wasn't right. Sirius _did _know what it meant because he knew he would've given everything he had (which, admittedly, wasn't much right now) to have had a loving father, or just an adult posing as such when he'd been Charles' age. He knew what it meant and he'd lift mountains and walk through hell and kill a hundred Dumbledores if it meant fulfilling his role as Charles Potters godfather. He loved little Harry just as much, at least he thought he did but he'd never actually met the boy and Charles clearly needed him him a lot more right now. So surely it was okay for him to take care of this boy, to accompany him on his hard way and protect him from all harm. That was his duty and he had never felt more in his element then now. He had a reason to live again. He had something to fight for.


End file.
